Pneumatic trouser cuff and pocket cleaner



Jan. 20, 1953 J. o. DEVAU PNEUMATIC TROUSER CUFF AND POCKET CLEANER 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1 Filed April 22, 1948 Q IN VEN TOR. ajoqiafie yaw, /amva.

ATTU RN EYE Jan. 20, 19.53 J. o. DEVAU PNEUMATIC TROUSER CUFF AND POCKET CLEANER 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 Filed April 22, 1948 ATTORNEYS Patented Jan. 20, 1953 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE PNEUMATIC TROUSER CUFF AND POCKET CLEANER 1 Claim. 1

The present invention relates to the general class of power operated machines or implements for brushing and cleaning clothing or wearing apparel, and other articles of flexible fabric, and more specifically to an improved trouser and cuff and pocket cleaner or portable machine of the combined rotary brush and vacuum or suction type. While the motor operated implement of my invention is well adapted for various purpos s, it is especially designed for commercial use in brushing and cleaning trousers cuffs and pockets, coat pockets, flaps, lapels, and other similar parts of wearing apparel that are difficult of access in the ordinary modes of commercial cleaning. The primary object of the invention is the provision of a compactly arranged apparatus into which the work maybe inserted by hand and manually held in place for quick action in brushing and cleaning a garment, and from which the garment, after cleaning is manually withdrawn.

The portable motor operated implement or appliance includes a minimum number of standardized parts that may with facility be manufactured at low cost of production, and the parts may be assembled with convenience to assure an appliance that is simple in construction and operation, easily controlled, durable, and efficient in the performance of its functions.

The invention consists in certain novel features of construction and combinations and arrangements of parts as will hereinafter be described and more particularly set forth in the appended claim.

In the accompanying drawings I have illustrated a complete exampl of a physical embodiment of my invention in which the parts are combined and arranged in accord with one mode I have devised for the practical application of the principles of my invention. It will be understood however, that changes and alterations are contemplated and may be made in these exemplifying drawings and mechanical and electrical structures, Within the scope of my claim without departing from the principles of the invention.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the invention, with a door open and the dust bag container supported on the open door.

Figure 2 is a vertical sectional view through the appliance of Figure 1; and Figure 3 is a vertical sectional view at line 3-3 of Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a detail horizontal sectional view illustrating the dust bag container mounted on the open door of the cabinet;

Figure 5 is a sectional view taken on the line 5-5 of Figure 10, taken with the parts of Figure as if they were in assembled position;

Figure 6 is a horizontal sectional view of the appliance showing the electrical parts and the wiring therefor, and with the doors hinged at the front instead of at the rear;

Figure 7 is a sectional view taken on the line l1 of Figure 2;

Figure 8 is a broken fragmentary view of the dust bag and its container;

Figure 9 is a detail enlarged perspective view of the vacuum valve; and Figure 10 is a broken detail view of the assembly of the suction fan, valve, and other parts.

In the assembly views Figs. 1 through 4 I employ a preferably rectangular cabinet or housing I fashioned of suitable material, and having a closed bottom that is equipped with swiveled caster wheels 2 for convenience in moving about a shop. For ready access to the interior of the cabinet or housing, a pair of doors 4 and 5 are hinged at the ends of the cabinet as at E and the doors are equipped with usual knobs and latches as indicated.

The top of the cover 48 is fashioned with a mouth, opening, or longitudinally extending slot 1 having curved walls, through which a trouser leg with its cuff may be inserted, by hand; or a pocket of a coat may be inserted; and the garment is thus manually suspended for brushing and cleaning, and then withdrawn by hand after cleaning.

The walls of the mouth 1 project downwardly into a hopper having an upper rectangular portion 8 and a downwardly tapered or funnel portion 9 that merges in a nipple or outlet If! within the interior of the cabinet, and as shown, the hopper is rigidly supported by and within the cover 3.

Within the hopper are mounted a pair of brushes that turn or rotate clockwise and counterclockwise toward each other as indicated by the arrows in Fig. 3, to brush the garment that is suspended between them. Each brush includes a wooden body as I l and [2, preferably of hard wood, and the tufts or bristles l3 mounted in the bodies are staggered, as indicated for efficiency in brushing the garments. The brushes are each equipped with metal end trunnions 14 that are journaled exteriorly of the hopper in bearings 15, supported on the inner faces of the walls of the cabinet, and a pair of pinions or gears l6 and I1 operate the brushes as described.

For synchronously rotating the brushes, one of the trunnions I4 is equipped with a driven sheave [8 over which a belt 19 passes from the drive pulley or sheave 20 of an electric motor 2| mounted within the cabinet or housing and the tion, for co-action with a metal gear as IT.

operation of the brush motor is controlled, as will be described, by the operator of the appliance.

In combination with the rotary brushes I employ a suction device for inducing a down draft through the mouth 1 and between the rotating brushes for disposing of the dust as it is removed from the garment. For this purpose an electric motor M drives a rotary fan blower 22 mounted in the fan casing 23, which, with the motor M, is supported on an interior frame 24 of the cabinet, and the fan casing also includes an axially alined valve casing 25, having a cap or closure 25a, and open to the fan casing. *By means of an intake nipple 26 the valve casing is connected to the nozzle ll! of the hop-per for down draft of air currents and dust from the hopper.

As best seen in Fig. 9 the valve casing encloses a rotary valve 21 of semi-cylindrical shape, that is provided with a stem 23 that projects through and is supported in a wallof the cabinet, and the exterior end of'the stem isequipped-with :a hand knob 29 and pointer 29a for turning the valve and indicating its position. The valve is designed as a two-way valve for controlling suction of the fan blower, alternately or selectively from the brushes and hopper, or from vacuum cleaning attachments employed by hand in cleaning various articles in usual manner.

From the hopper the dust and air currents are drawn through the valve casing and fan casing through a dust outletport flt'and thence through an exhaust nozzle 3! of the fan casing, and the dust is deposited in a dispensable dust bag B that is removable and replaceable.

Preferably the dust bag 13 is mounted in a flanged'metal container or can 32, which is provided With a removable dome-shaped cap 33, and quick detachable means are provided for clamping the open upper end of the bag between the flanged can and cap, as for instance pivoted clamping bolts '34 adapted to seat in notches of the flanged cap, and locking nuts 35 for clamping the bag and capin an airtight joint with the container or can.

The container, with an empty bag B, may readily be attached to the exhaust nozzle 3| by means of a collar 35 on the container cap, and the collaris provided with exterior diametrically arranged pins '31 that co-act with bayonet slots 38 of the nozzle. With equal facility, the container, with a filled bag B, maybe detached from the nozzle 3|, the filled bag may be dispensed with, and anempty bag substituted thereforwith- -'out material loss of time.

In the diagram of electrical wiring in Fig. 6 the motor M for the suction fan is controlled by hand switch 39 and the brush-operating motor 2| is controlled by switch 40,'both mounted exterior of the cabinet where they are readily accessible to the operation of the appliance. The electrical circuits for the motors are connected at terminal 4| mounted in a wall of the cabinet, and a plug or connector 42 for the main line Wires 43, is attached at the outside of the wall.

In order to eliminate excessive and undesirable noises in the operation of the appliance, one

of the spur gears, as 16, may be fashioned of a suitable sound-insulating material or composi- The =two brushes are properly spaced in such manner that the bristles ofthe respective brushes beating against the opposite sides of the trousers-cufi, or cuffs, when suspended betweenthe brushes, turn the cuffs outwardly and simultaneously dust them for a thorough cleansing of the material.

For auxiliary use in manually cleaning various articles, the appliance is equipped with vacuum cleaning or suction attachments of well known type, and the valve 21 is employed in cutting off suction from the hopper, and in makin the proper connections for the vacuum cleaning attachments.

For this purpose the valve casing is provided with an intake fixture 44, :to which a hose 45 is attached by a quick detachable fastener or look 46 of the pin and bayonet-slot type, and a typical suction nozzle is shown at 41 attached at the free end of the hose.

The cabinet I is equipped with a somewhat rectangular cover 48 that is hinged at 49 for ready accessto the interior of the cabinet, and

the .cover has .an inclined top with the open mouth I for convenience in suspending a garment between the brushes for cleansing.

As here shown, the container 32, with its enclosed dust bag B, is mounted by hoops or bands 59 on the inner face of one of the cabinet doors, as 4; and to provide for a flexible connection between the fan blower and the bag-container that permits opening of the door, an extension hose 5| is employed and attached at 52 to the cap of the container, andat v53 to the exhaust or outlet from the fan casing,

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

A cleaning appliance comprising a mobile cabinet, a cover jhingedly connected to said cabinet and provided with an inclined top, there being an open mouth in said top for receiving the garment to be cleaned, a door hingedly connected to said cabinet and mounted for swinging movement about a vertica1 axis, "a hopper arranged below said-mouth and including an :upper portion substantially rectangular in cross section, and .a downwardly tapered funnel portion, said funnel portion merging into a nipple, a pair of spaced parallel rotatable brushes mounted in said ihopper, gear means connecting said pair of brushes together, said brushes rotating in a direction towards each other, a driven sheave connected to one of said brushes, a motor arranged in said cabinet and adapted to be connected to a source of electrical energy, a pulley driven by said motor, a belt trained over said pulley and sheave, a suction device mounted in said cabinet below said .hopper for inducing a down draft through said nipple between said rotating brushes for disposing of the dust as it is removed from the garment, and a idustreceiving andlfiltering contamer carried by said doorandoperatively connected to the exhaust from said suction device by means of a flexible hose.

JOSEPH OMER DEVAU.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,399,341 Grymes Dec. 6, 1921 1,596,676 Manger Aug. 17, 1926 1,836,941 Spicer "Dec. 15, 1931 1,870,887 Bernhard Aug. 9, 1932 1,902,211 Bjorklund Mar. 21, 1933 1,914,295 Riley June 13, 1933 2,232,805 Ruedebush Feb. 25,1941 2,355,221 Knight Aug. '8, 1944 2,430,448 Breckheimer Nov. 11, 1947 

